Sen. Bernie Sanders’ populist message has put him in the position to potentially win Democratic nomination contests in both Iowa and New Hampshire, shaking the sense of inevitability that has surrounded Hillary Clinton. As the socialist senator from Vermont gains traction in polls, Clinton has more aggressively attacked his policy proposals, forcing Sanders to release details on how he would pay for his ambitious economic and social agenda.

Taken together, Sanders is proposing $19.6 trillion in new taxes over a decade, according to an analysis by the Washington Examiner, of which $14 trillion would come from his healthcare plan alone. To put that in perspective, the Congressional Budget Office projects that federal revenues over the next 10 years will be a total of $41.6 trillion, meaning that Sanders would raise taxes by 47 percent over current levels.

It’s also worth keeping in mind that these estimates are on a static basis. Meaning they don’t take into account any offsetting reduction in revenue that’s likely to occur due to depressed economic activity resulting from such major tax increases. For instance, taxing “speculation” on Wall Street will reduce trading activity, and thus it’s unlikely to raise the $300 billion per year claimed by the Sanders campaign.

Comments

Nothing is free.
Every little handout has to be paid for.
They are giving away “free” stuff that will have to be paid by our children down the road.
These people have no soul.
They have to be stopped. For our children.

Socialist speculation is what killed millions of people and caused the social wastelands of so many nations.

The free stuff that socialism actually provides is a loss of humanity and the consequent despair. But sheep are dumb animals. They will be led to the slaughter to overhead reduce costs.

Socialists think they know better than everyday people about how to spend your money. The accumulated hubris of Progressives-Socialists-Deemocrats is greater than the national debt to the power of 19.5 trillion.